LeBron James will be among the Miami Heat players expected in the lineup today when the reigning
NBA champions open their exhibition schedule at Atlanta.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said point guard Mario Chalmers and center Joel Anthony, both dealing
with minor injuries, will not play today. Most everyone else will be under consideration for at
least some minutes against the Hawks, including guard Dwyane Wade, who will be listed as day-to-day
for the entire preseason while he works his way back from offseason knee surgery.

“I feel good,” Wade said. “That’ll be Coach’s decision. But I’m going to try to come in and do
what I’ve done every day, get to the gym and work out and see how I feel from there.”

James said it would have been “a little bit” awkward to sit out the first exhibition of the
season for the Heat, who will be on the floor against an opponent for the first time since beating
Oklahoma City in Game 5 of last season’s NBA Finals.

“The Atlanta fans, they’ll be happy about it,” James said. “Those Atlanta fans, they’ll be happy
that Spo is making me active. It’ll be fun. Whatever I play — I don’t know how many minutes I’ll
play — but the minutes I’m out there I will produce.”

Also expected to be among those in the Miami lineup today: Chris Bosh, Ray Allen and Rashard
Lewis. If they play, Allen and Lewis will be making their Heat game debuts.

After today’s game, the Heat will depart for a week in China and two games against the Los
Angeles Clippers. Spoelstra said everyone on the training-camp roster is going to be on the China
trip.

Spoelstra indicated James and Bosh might not play long in the first exhibition game, with a
planned 14-hour flight to China set to follow.

“Not extended minutes,” Spoelstra said.

Irving plays in scrimmage for Cavs

NBA Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving, who broke his right hand in July, played in the Cleveland
Cavaliers’ intrasquad scrimmage last night.

Irving scored 13 points and had five assists as his team lost 54-44.

He underwent surgery to repair a fracture in his right hand on July 18, four days after injuring
himself while practicing with the Cavaliers’ summer league team in Las Vegas. After misfiring on a
pass to rookie center Tyler Zeller, the 20-year-old slammed his hand into a padded wall in
frustration, breaking the bone on impact.

Irving, the top pick in the 2011 draft out of Duke, was cleared to practice last week when
Cleveland opened training camp. He averaged 18.5 points and 5.4 assists in 51 games as a rookie as
the Cavaliers went 21-45.